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GROWTH OF 

REVOLUTIONARY PARTIES 

AND METHODS IN 

NEW YORK PROVINCE 

1765-1774 



By CARL BECKER 



REPRINTED FROM THE 



^mcvican M$t0%m\ WLtvxtw 



VOL. VII NO. 



OCTOBER iqoi 



GROWTH OF REVOLUTIONARY PARTIES AND 
METHODS IN NEW YORK PROVINCE 

1765-1774 

It has been seen that the new methods in nomination in New 
York province found their origin in the growth of the democratic 
spirit during the middle and last half of the eighteenth century. 1 
The tendency of the coming consciousness of equality was to cut 
into the old factions based on personal influence, and to reorganize 
parties on a basis of principle. The Revolution gave this move- 
ment a great impetus by hastening — to some extent by completing 
— this change, and by teaching a minority the necessity of organ- 
ization and the uses of political machinery; the Revolution was the 
culmination in theory, and in fact to a considerable extent, at least 
in New York, of the effort of the masses to pull down authority 
from the top and place it upon the ground. In theory and in prac- 
tice the masses, for the time being, got vital control of the business; 
of governing. The lessons of the Revolution in this respect were 
incalculable, and no consideration of the nominating convention cam 
be complete or intelligible without taking them into account. It 
will be necessary therefore to indicate the development of the Rev- 
olutionary parties in New York, to follow the changes from the old 
personal factions through the early inchoate divisions of the Stamp> 
Act and Tea Act period, to the later well defined separation into rad- 
icals and conservatives. It is the design of this paper: (1) to trace- 
the origin of these two factions up to the time when they began the- 
contest for directing and shaping the Revolutionary movement ini 
New York ; "(2) to indicate incidentally the development of the pop- 
ular extra-legal organization through which this directing and shap- 
ing influence was later exercised, largely through the nomination' 
of candidates to the most important Revolutionary offices within the- 
gift of the people. 

In reality the anti-British struggle of the early Revolutionary pe- 
riod was a continuation of the anti-British struggle which had been 
going on since the administration of Governor Cosby in 1732- 
Until that time the administration of colonial New York, from the 

1 See article entitled, " Nominations in Colonial New York,' ' American Historical 
Review, January, 1901. 

(56) 



57 C. Becker 

point of view of British control, had been comparatively mild and 
indifferent. Party conflicts within the province had been largely 
personal. In so far as they were religious or political, they were 
an imitation, to a very considerable extent, of similar conflicts in 
the mother country. The bitter Leisler factions which disturbed 
New York for more than a quarter of a century were the outgrowth 
in the province of the English Revolution of 1688; and in this 
struggle political, religious and personal motives were inextricably 
mixed. Occasionally a governor like Bellomont made himself dis- 
liked, or one like Cornbury made himself despised. It is true also 
that even from the first there were two questions which served to 
divide the governor and council as the representatives of the British 
government, from the assembly as the representative of the colony; 
these were the question of enforcing the laws of trade and the 
question of controlling the colonial revenue. Bellomont indeed 
aroused disfavor by trying to enforce the former, while Cornbury 
ami Hunter met a stubborn resistance in their efforts to reduce the 
power of the assembly over the appropriation of money and the 
control of the governor's salary. But the laws of trade were not 
an irritating question after Bellomont's time, and the matter of the 
revenue was compromised in 17 15, during the administration of 
Governor Hunter. It was not, therefore, until the time of Cosby 
and Clarke and Clinton, that the anti -British party began to crys- 
tallize around the assembly, and the pro-British party around the 
governor. It was at this time that the growing democratic spirit, 
the coming consciousness of equality, a certain feeling of political 
self-sufficiency, resulted in a more jealous watchfulness of every 
claim put forth by the governor, and in an increasing tendency to 
look upon the governor as the agent of a power more or less for- 
eign, if not actually hostile, to the colony's interests. 

During the years from [732 to 1760, the principal questions 
which were dividing parties into British and anti-British were the 
freedom of the pies-., the freedom of the judiciary from British con- 
trol, the binding force of royal instructions and executive decrees, 
the frequency of elections, the appointment of colonial agents to 
England, and the control by the assembly of the revenue and, 
through the revenue, of the administration of the laws. 

The question of the control of the revenue by the assembly had, 
as we have seen, come up before. All through the administration 
of Fletcher and during that of Cornbury and of Hunter, the assembly 

had carefully guarded what it considered its rights in this resp 
it refuse. 1 to grant revenue at the request or the demand of the gov- 
ernor ; it refused to grant a life salary to the governor ; it refused 



C 






Revolutionary Parties in New York 58 

to allow the council to amend money bills ; it insisted upon an elec- 
tive treasurer. In this early struggle the assembly showed even the 
tendency, so manifest later, to interfere in the administration of the 
laws by specifying more or less minutely the purposes for which, 
and the methods and agents by which, the money was to be ex- 
pended. But in the later period the quarrel was renewed and in- 
tensified ; its full bitterness was not experienced until the period of 
the Indian wars of Governor Clinton's administration. During these 
years the policy of the assembly was clearly defined ; it would not 
only control the levying of taxes, but it would also control appro- 
priations and expenditures. By specifying minutely the methods 
and agents by which the money that it appropriated was to be ex- 
pended, independent or discretionary power in the administration 
and execution of the laws was materially weakened if not destroyed. 
The persistent policy of limiting appropriations to one year made 
frequent sessions of the assembly a practical necessity, 1 while the 
struggle for frequent elections, which lasted some years, finally cul- 
minated in the Septennial Act of 1743. 2 The virtual helplessness of 
the governor led to a bill in Parliament proposing to give the force 
of law to royal instructions. It was to resist the passage of this bill 
that the assembly appointed two agents to England, and raised five 
hundred pounds for their expenses ; 3 at a later time the assembly 
took the matter of the agency into its own hands through the ap- 
-pointment of an agent by resolution without consulting the governor, 
providing for his salary by a rider to the salary of the governor him- 
self. 4 The freedom of the press was vindicated in the famous and 
somewhat dramatic trial of Zenger, the effect of which, in fostering 
the spirit of resistance to what was considered oppression, can hardly 
be overestimated. 5 Finally, the question of the freedom of the 
judiciary from British control, or more directly from the governor's 
control, was at issue in the Cosby-Van Dam controversy ; 6 it was a 
matter which the people watched with jealous care, and every at- 
tempt of the governors to interfere in any way with the judicial 
arrangements was resisted stubbornly. 

1 See the address of the assembly, September, 1737, wherein the assembly frankly 
assured the governor that no appropriations would be made for a longer period than one 
year. Assembly Journal, p. 706. 

2 New York Colonial Documents, VI. 136 ; Schoonmacher, History of Kingston, 
n8. The first act, passed December 16, 1737, provided for triennial assemblies with 
yearly sessions. Laws of New York, Chapter 650. Disallowed by the King November 
30, 173S. New York Colonial Documents, VI. 136. 

s Laws of Xew York, Chapter 788. 

* See Tanner, ' ' Colonial Agencies in England," Political Science Quarterly, XVI. 43. 

5 Pasco, Old Xew York, II. 52; Memorial History of New York, II. 237; Lamb, 
History of New York, I. 557; Thomas, LListory of Printing, II. 100. 

6 Memorial History of New York, II. 583. 



59 C. Becker 

Such were the questions which were forming the British and anti- 
British' parties. At first these questions were viewed very largely 
m the old standpoint of personal ity. With the governor stood 
De Lancey and the powerful following which he controlled ; with 
the assembly went the party of Livingston, supported by the able 
lawyers William Smith and John Morin Scott, and by very nearly 
if not quite all the rising young men of the day. 1 Increasingly this 
latter party shaped and guided the growing interest of the people in 
political questions. To counteract the mild influence of the court 
paper, Bradford's Gazette, Zengcr's Journal was established; it 
became the mouthpiece of the anti-court party, and gave utterance 
to those views, wise or unwise, which it was thought would serve to 
win for that part\- the popular support. And not indeed without 
avail ; the popular party gained steadily as it backed up the assembly 
in its resistance to the governor. 2 More or less steadily the purely 
personal element died out. Before 1750 De Lancey himself was at 
odds with the governor. 3 The old court party became demoralized. 
In 1750 the so-called Whig club was formed, and for many years 
the popular party was distinctly in the lead. When the Stamp Act 

1 Van Dam was supported in the trial with Cosby by William Smith and James Alex- 
ander. Of the three judges, I >e Lancey and Philipse were for Cosby, bul the chief 
justice, Lewis Morris, was for Van Dam. Morris very soon after lost his judgeship which 
went to De Lancey, but he then stood for Westchester county for the assembly, and won 
in a contest which excited more popular interest than perhaps any election ever held in 
New York province. From this time, and more especially after the Zcnger trial, the 
De Lancey faction became more avowedly the court party, while its enemies espoused 
upon every occasion the popular side. Memorial Hist York, II. 217, 233, 

583; Bolton, History of Westchester County, I. 136; Valentine, History of New York, 
p. 264; New York Journal, November 5, 1733. 

• Memorial Hi York, II. 248, 249. 262 ; Broadside dated August 25, 
1750, in the New York Historical Society Library, Vol. I. of the collection ; New York 
Colonial Documents, VI. 247, 417, 57S ; Onderdonk, Querns County in Olden Times, 
pp. 21, 31, 33; Smith, History 0/ New York, II. 37 ; Stone, Life of William John oh, 
'• 39> '57 i Valentine, Manual of the Corporation, 1S65, p. 779; 1866, p. 703; New 
York Weekl . June 24, 1745. 

* Memorial History of New York, II. 261, 296. "Nothing could have been so tin- 
nappy," writes Clinton to the Duke of New Castle, Feb. 13, 174S, "for this province 
and myself, as the unexpected promotion [of De Lancey to the Lt. -Governorship] which 
became known when the elections were coining on for a new Assemb!/. Wherein I had 
carried the choice of several members for the counties that were well attached to his 
Majesty's interest . . . and should have succeeded with several other-, but that mes- 
sengers were immediately dispatched throughout the province with the news of Mr. De 

being made LL -Governor, which damped the inclinations of all my friends, 

reading the exhorbitant power and resentment of this man.'' nial 

uments, VI. 417. Again in 175". Clinton laments that nothing has been done 

that he desired, for the encouragement of those that remained faithful. Otherwise, " I 

make no doubt but that every man of the taction would have been left out of this elec- 
tion . . . and this notwithstanding that I am informed that Chief Justice De I.anccy is 
gone into the country, since the writs issued, personally to influence the people in their 
election." Ibid. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 60 

was passed the popular party controlled the assembly and the prov- 
ince ; the letters of Lt. Governor Colden reveal his helplessness. 1 

The Stamp Act raised the first of a series of questions which 
were to complete the formation of the Revolutionary parties in New 
York province and state. The popular party of Livingston was 
then in control of the assembly. Of the four well marked classes 
into which New York society was divided, three of them — the land 
owners, the professional classes and the merchants — were closely 
united in interests through business and family relationships. 2 
Opposition to the governor and council as the agent of the British 
government had come to be recognized as the cue in all political 
questions. When the Stamp Act came, the opposition which had 
been directed against the agents of the home government, was trans- 
ferred to the home government itself. The conflict was felt to be 
more or less a continuation of the old one which had engaged the 
colony for so many years ; it was merely a new act of oppression 
against which was directed the whole force of the popular party, 
which meant at first nearly the whole force of the colony. 

The lead in the opposition was at first taken by the assembly. 
As early as October 18, 1764, the assembly had ordered that the 
committee which had been appointed to correspond with the assem- 
bly's agent in England, should also be a committee to correspond 
with other assemblies with reference to the late acts of Parliament 
on the "trade of the northern colonies." 3 The next year when the 

'See Colden' s Letter Book, I. 187, 231, 362, 422, 468; II. 68, 86. (New York 
Historical Society Collections, Vols. IX. and X.) 

2 The following division into, classes is taken from Lieutenant-Governor Colden' s re- 
port on the state of the province in 1765. " The people of New York are properly dis- 
tinguished into different ranks. ( I ) The proprietors of the large tracts of land who in- 
clude within their claims from 100,000 acres to above one million of acres under one 
grant. Some of these remain in one single family. Others are by devises and purchases 
claimed in common by considerable numbers of persons. (2) The gentlemen of the law 
make the second class in which are properly included both bench and bar. Both of them 
act on the same principles, and are of the most distinguished rank in the policy of th e 
province. (3) The merchants make the third class. Many of them have rose suddenly 
from the lowest rank ... to considerable fortunes, and chiefly in illicit trade in the las t 
war. They abhor every limitation of trade . . . and therefore gladly go into every measure 
whereby they hope to have trade free. (4) In the last rank may be placed the farmers 
and mechanics. Though the farmers hold their land in fee simple, they are, as to condi - 
tion of life, in no way superior to the common farmers in England. This last rank in- 
cludes the bulk of the people and in them consists the strength of the province . . . 
The gentlemen of the law are either owners, heirs, or strongly connected in interest with 
the proprietors." Letter Book, II. 68-70. Likewise the merchants were for the most 
part, ' : strongly connected with the owners of these great tracts by family interest." 
Colden to the Lords of Trade, September 20, 1764. Ibid., I. 363. 

3 Assembly Journal, II. 7S0. In his History of Westchester County During the 
American Revolution, Mr. Dawson points to this committee, with a certain note of 
triumph illustrative of a curious provincialism, as the first of the Revolutionary committee 



6 1 C. Becker 

Stamp Act raised an opposition which carried away nearly all classes 
alike, the movement in New York was still directed by the assembly. 
It approved the plan of a congress of delegates to consider the 
matter and decide upon measures of resistance, which had been sug- 
gested by the assembly of Massachusetts, and it provided for the 
appointment of delegates to represent New York by referring the 
whole matter to the committee of correspondence that had already 
been named. 1 Thus until October 28, the day on which the con- 
gress adjourned, the opposition to the Stamp Act was distinctly in 
the hands of the leading men of the colony outside of the small 
remnant of the governor's party. As a movement it represented 
the property, professional and commercial interests of the province. 
But from this date the resistance takes on a more radical character; 
especially in the city of New York where the Revolutionary move- 
ment centered from first to last, it was more and more dominated 
by the lowest of the four classes — the unfranchised mechanics and 
artisans, the " inhabitants." As a result we find the propertied and 
commercial classes began soon to draw back and assume a more 
conservative attitude. The organization which represented the un- 
franchised class, and assumed the leadership in this more radical 
phase of the movement, was the so-called " Sons of Liberty." 

The origin of the Sons of Libert}' is somewhat in doubt. Ac- 
cording to Governor Colden, whose statement has been followed 
!>v Dawson, the society was the outgrowth of an organization of the 
lawyers in 1750, whose object from the very first was political and 
revolutionary.- This is, however, probably far fetched. The pap 

of correspondence. "Six years before Massachusetts appointed her bint hearted com- 
mittee, whose fear of Great Britain prevented the preparation of even a single litter, and 
nearly nine year* before that celebrated meeting at the Raleigh Tavern. Richmond, where 
Virginia gave birth to her first born, the Assembly of New \'..rk originated the movement 
and appointed a committee of o n ce with Robert R. Livingston at its head.'' 

p, 63, See also, p. 6l t). If it is a question of origin in mere form, one may equally 
well go back to the committee of safety.. I the Leisler regime, or to the commit!. 
safety of the English civil war. See Leisler Narrative, New York Colonial Docur: 

111 070. 

/en's Letter Book, II. 35. 
•"After Mr. Delano cajoling Mr. Clinton, receivi .mission of 

Chief lustice during good behavior, thi a of the law entered into an association, 

the effect of which your lordship bad formerly opportunity of observing in some striking 
instances. They purposed nothing less to themselves than to obtain thi of all 

the 1 ol the government, by making themselves absolutely necessary to . 

governor, in assisting him when be complied with their meOSUTI I and by distressing him 
when he did othi Colden to the Earl of Halifax, February 22, 1765 Witt's 

Letter Hook, I. 469. Quoted in Dawson, .' '•■ .ton. 

"As early as the year 1754 there were men in America, I may >av in the ton 

ton, New Y..rk, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg, who held independence in prospect" 
I mination of James Gall w Yorkjoum - ■ ntle- 

nien of the law some years since enten ttion with intention, among 1 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 62 

of John Lamb, one of the moving spirits of the society of the Sons 
of Liberty, indicate little if any connection between the two organiza- 
tions ; from these papers it appears that the Sons of Liberty were 
formally organized shortly after the passage of the Stamp Act, as a 
secret society which did not assume an open and public character 
until some years later. 1 Neither is it strictly true, as Dawson main- 
tains, that they directed the whole struggle. Livingston, Smith, 
and John Morin Scott, who were prominent in the early part of the 
Stamp Act trouble, do not appear to have been connected with the 
Sons of Liberty, in any active capacity even at the first, and certainly 
at a later time the leaders in the society were the more radical 
spirits, like Lamb, Sears, Wiley, Robinson, and the notorious Alex- 
ander McDougall. What is true is that the Sons of Liberty repre- 
sented the lowest of the four classes, the artisan and laboring 
classes of the city, and that they directed the conflict in so far as 
popular agitation and mob violence formed a part of it. 2 

This mob violence and popular agitation, during the Stamp Act 
episode, reached a climax from the 1st to the 3d of November, as a 
result of the arrival of the stamps at Fort George. The mob went 
through the city crying " liberty," destroying property, and burning 
in effigy certain persons high in authority, including the governor 

things, to assume the direction of the government upon them, by the influence they had 
in the Assembly, gained by their family connections and by the profession of the law, 
whereby they are invariably in the secrets of many families. Many court their friendship, 
all dread their hatred. By these means, though few of them be members, they rule the 
Assembly in all matters of importance." Colden's Report on the state of the province, 
December 6, 1765. New York Colonial Documents, VII. 796. 

1 "The association of the Sons of Liberty was organized soon after the passage of 
the stamp act, and extended throughout the colonies." Leake, Life and Times of Gen- 
eral Lamb, p. 2. See also, Memorial History of New York, II. 347, 374. 

2 The members of the committees, fairly expressive of leadership in the society it 
may be supposed, are given by Leake as follows : — New York City : John Lamb, Isaac 
Sears, William Wiley, Edward Laight, Thomas Robinson, Flores Bancker, Charles Nicoll, 
Joseph Allicoke, and Gershom Mott. Albany : Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Myndertse 
Raseboom, Robert Henry, Thomas Young. Huntington : J. S. Hobart, Gilbert Palter, 
Thomas Brush, Cornelius Conklur, Nathaniel Williams. Life and Times of General 
Lamb, p. 4. See also, House Journal, January 7, 1848; and, Sears, Pictorial History 
of the United States. 

The first popular meeting of importance was called by the merchants. On the 17th 
of October, 1765, the following notice appeared in the New York Gazette:— "A meeting 
of the friends of liberty and the English Constitution, in this city and parts adjacent, is 
earnestly desired by great numbers of the inhabitants, in order to form an association of 
all who are not already slaves, in opposition to all attempts to make them so." Soon 
after, October 31, a meeting was held, probably as a result of this notice, at George 
Burns's inn. Resolutions agreeing not to ship English goods until the Stamp Act was 
repealed were signed by some 200 merchants. New York Gazette, November 7, 1765. 
Leake states that the meeting also appointed a committee of correspondence, of five 
members, all Sons of Liberty. Life and Times of General Lamb, pp. 14, 15. The 
Gazette does not mention it. See also, Memorial History of New York, II. 367 n. 



63 C. Becker 

himself.' Hut opposition of this sort was not to the liking of the 
propertied classes, however much they may have disapproved of the 
levy and collection of the stamp tax. A little rioting was admirable 
it is true, so long as it remained entirely under their own control 
and was directed to the one end of bringing the English govern- 
ment to terms. But when the destruction of property began to be 
relished for its own sake by the classes which were property! 
and when the cry of liberty came loudest from those who were most 
conspicuous for their lack of all political privileges, it seemed well 
to draw back ; these men might not cease their shouting when purely 
British restrictions were at an end. The ruling class in New York 
s.iw clearly that "liberty" ,u\<\ "no taxation" were arguments 
which might be used with as great potency against themselves as 
against the home government — arguments which indeed the un- 
franchised classes were already making use of. Consequently on 
Monday, the 4th of November, the mayor ami several leading citi- 
zens, among them Livingston, attended a council called by the gov- 
ernor. The governor promised not to deliver or suffer to be deliv- 
ered any of the stamps in Fort George. This promise was affixed 
to a statement purporting to express the satisfaction of the " Free- 
men and Freeholders," and their further determination to keep the 
peace until other causes of conflict arose ; the document was signed 
by Livingston, Cruger, Beverley, Robinson, and J. Stevens, printed 
on a broadside, and circulated throughout the city. Hut in spil 
the fact that the proposition bore the names of Beverley and Robin- 
son, the "people" were not satisfied. It was demanded that the 
stamps be delivered to the corporation, and a popular meeting was 
called for the 5th of November. The common council then took the 
initiative ; a committee was sent to the governor, and the stamps, in 
return for a receipt, were taken and lodged in the city hall. The 
mob dispersed. 1 

This reaction of the propertied classes' 1 against the more rad- 

1 '• 31st October, 1765 S I people in mourning for the near issue of the stamps, 
and the interment of their liberty. Descended even to the Hag-Gammon boxes ai the 
Merchants Coffee House being covered with black and the dice in crape. This night a 
1 1:1 three squads went through the stn it the same time breaking 

the lumps and threatening particulars that thejr would the next nij;lit pull down their 
s." The .'•; H ■ w VorV 1 1 i > t . 1 1 : ions for t8Sl), 

p. $$fi. For a further account of the doings ol the mob, especially the burning of the 
govenv ir in , II. 54! Mtmorial History I ri, 

II. 360; At 337. 

• Mtmorial History of Nrm York, II. 363. For the receipt which was given, see 
CoUih'i f.tUti B( .11 57. 

'While the propertied class was - some extent, in this reactionary 1 

inent, by the merchants and the lawyer-, it is still true that the land owners were at this 
date the prime movers in the reaction. The main body of the merchants certainly assumed 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 64 

ical methods of the Sons of Liberty, which was also a feelinsr of 
jealousy at the interference of the lower classes in politics, was at- 
tended with more success in the matter of instructing the city's 
representatives in the assembly. The leaders now made use of 
their experience in political methods to secure success by a little 
diplomacy, where, in point of mere numbers, they were very likely 
at a disadvantage. On the 25th of November, certain of the lead- 
ers of the radicals, after consultation, posted a notice about the 
city, according to their custom, calling a meeting of the freemen 
and freeholders for the purpose of considering the matter of issu- 
ing instructions to their representatives. 1 On the day appointed 
the conservative leaders, it appears, attended the meeting in consid- 
erable numbers, and by an ingenious device appointed their own 
committee, laid aside the originally prepared instructions, and 
adopted less radical ones in their stead. 2 The following day their 
committee in person presented the instructions to the assembly. 3 

a conservative attitude only at a later date ; as for the lawyers, some ultimately became 
Tories others remained with the radical party. "The lawyers leveled at . . . to be at 
the bottom of this disgraceful insurrection." " The lawyers deemed by the people here- 
to be hornets and firebrands ... the planners and incendiaries of the present rupture."' 
The Montresor Journals, p. 339. 

■"LIBERTY PROPERTY AND NO STAMPS! A general meeting of the 
freeholders, freemen, and inhabitants of the city and county of New York is desired 00. 
Tuesday afternoon, at the house of Mr. Burns ... in order to agree upon seme instruc- 
tions to be given to their representatives in the general Assembly." New York Mercury, 
December 2, 1765. See also, The Montresor Journals, p. 340. 

2 When the meeting had assembled, "one or more of the company, supposed to be 
previously instructed, proposed some particular gentlemen present to be appointed a com- 
mittee for the county. These gentlemen, without the general assent of the people, agreed 
to the proposal on condition they might be joined by several other gentlemen present who 
were named." The unexceptional character of the men named prevented any exception! 
being taken to them. Thus the men first appointed, who seemed the prime movers bub 
were not at all, took the lead and diverted the meeting from its original design. New 

York Mercury, December 2, 1765. The instructions which the meeting drew up ex- 
pressed the belief that it could not be unreasonable, in these troublous times, for constitu- 
ents, " in this constitutional way," to urge upon their representatives the need of watch- 
fulness in the public interest, and proceeded to point out the dangerous tendency of the 
duties recently levied, etc. New York Gazette, November 2S, 1765. 

3 The committee included William Livingston, William Smith, James DeLancey, 
and John Morin Scott. For the whole list, see New York Gazette, November 28, 1765.. 
They were received kindly by the assembly, and were assured that the matter had already 
been taken into consideration. Ibid. About a month later the assembly passed resolu- 
tions embodying the instructions of the committee, but adding a profession of allegiance 
to the King. Ibid. , December 26. On the very day that the above instructions were 
presented to the assembly, November 26, a curious anonymous document was received 
by that body, which was also in the nature of instructions. It was not the resolutions 
which were originally prepared for the meeting of the 26th of November (for these, see 
New York Mercury, December 2, 1765), but was the work of some of the Sons of Lib- 
erty, or of individuals calling themselves such. The document was delivered to the clerk 
of the assembly in a sealed envelope, and when opened read as follows :— " Gentlemen 
of the House of Representatives you are to consider what is to be done first drawing of 



65 C. Becker 

After this rebuff the Sons of Liberty threw off the mask of secrecy, 
declared themselves the true representatives of the city and county, 
complained that they were not being supported by the best element 
of the people, and discussed the question as to whether the stamps in 
the state house should be burnt or sent back to England. 1 The first 
factional divisions of the Revolution were becoming clearly marked. 
The result of the Stamp Act episode in detaching the propertied 
•classes and especially the landed classes from the more radical fol- 
lowers of the Sons of Liberty, was thrown into strong relief by the 
• elections of 1768 and 1769. In both of these elections the popular 
party of Livingston was defeated, and the royal or court party of 
De Lancey for the last time gained control of the assembly. It is 
true the moderate measures of resistance to the Stamp Act, which 
were also the most effective ones, had been carried through by the 
Livingston party in control of the assembly ; but that party was at 
:first hardly distinguishable from the mob element, and never perhaps 
•became completely differentiated from it. It followed as a natural 

as much money from the Lieutenant Governor's sellery as will Repare the fort and on 
spike the guns on the Battery & the nex a Repeal of the gunning act & then there will 
.be a good Militia but not before and also as you are a setting you may consider of the 
Building act as it is to take place next yeare wich it Cannot for there is no supply of some 
sort of the materials Required this law is not ground on Reasons but there is a great many 
Reasons to the contrary so gentlemen we Desire you will do what Lays in your power for 
the good of the public but if you take this ill be not so conceited as to say or think that 
other people know nothing about government you have made these laws & say they are 
Right but they are Rong & take away Liberty, Oppressions of your make gentlemen make 
us SONS OF LIBERTY think you are not for the public Liberty, this is the general 
opinion of the people for this part of your conduct By order signed one and all, FREE- 
DOM." Documentary History of New York, III. 495 (ed. 1850-1S51). The assembly 
voted the letter scandalous and offered a reward of £50 for the detection of the author. 
Dawson, The Park and its Vicinity, p. 15 note. 

1 " 23rd. (Dec, 1765) Assembled a mob for householder's votes — yea or nay to 
burn the Stamps or send them to England back. Undetermined." The Montresoi 
Journals, p. 343. "4th Feb., 1766. Meeting of the Libertines, who seem to decline, 
being much concerned that the gentlemen of property in the town dont publicly join them. 
They formed a Committee of Correspondence with the Liberty Boys of the neighboring 
Provinces." Ibid., 348. For the further activity of the Sons of Liberty during this 
period, see Memorial History of New York, II. 374 ; New York Gazette, January, 2, 9, 
I7> 2 3> 3°' an d February 6, 1766; New York Mercury, February 17, 1766; Onderdonk, 
Documents and Letters Intended to Illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens 
County, pp. 13, 14. " Our political affairs are in great confusion. Today will be de- 
cided if the moble will command the town or will be subjected to the better sort of citi- 
zens. The latter are called by the Mayor and corporation to meet at 11 o'clock at the 
city hall to resolve upon the point. The Sons of Liberty, so as they stile themselves, 
pretend to take by arbitrary force the stamps out of the town house and send them to 
England. . . . The last resolves of the Assembly concerning the present circumstances 
are very well. Why have they not been so moderate long ago ? The effect would have 
been favorable and their conduct honorable. We set the house afire and then endeavour 
to put it out." Peter Hasenclerer to William Johnson, New York, December 23, 1765. 
Johnson MSS., II. 279. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 66 

consequence that the party had to bear the discredit of the whole 
movement, the most clearly remembered features of which were 
mob violence and lawlessness. The assembly, thus placed in the 
hands of the reactionists, became more and more conservative and 
royalist in character. Its influence decreased steadily until it was 
replaced by the popularly established government known as the 
Provincial Congress. 

The Townsend Act, which followed close upon the repeal of the 
Stamp Act, aroused much the same sort of opposition from the Sons 
of Liberty as the Stamp Act had done. Even the merchant class 
had not yet been entirely detached from the radical party. But they 
were nevertheless somewhat more cautious in their resistance, and 
acted to some extent by themselves. An agreement was drawn up 
and signed by nearly all of the merchants of New York, in which 
they pledged themselves not to import anything more from England 
until the duties were repealed. For those who broke the agree- 
ment boycott was to be the punishment. The enforcement of the 
agreement was placed in the hands of a general committee of one 
hundred. 1 Having determined upon this policy the merchants set- 
tled down to await the repeal. Meanwhile popular agitation and 
resistance, which were continued largely under the direction of the 
Sons of Liberty, were directed against the assembly in the propor- 
tion to which that body became reactionary and royalist. The Sons 
of Liberty exercised themselves dramatically in erecting liberty 
poles, quarrelling with the soldiers, 2 arousing opposition to the 
acts of the assembly, urging their views upon the city's representa- 
tives by means of instructions, 3 and illustrating in many ways the 

1 New York Mercury, September 12, 176S. 

2 See New York Colonial Documents, VIII. 20S ; Colden's Letter Book, II. 211. 
Broadsides entitled "To the Public," and, "To the Inhabitants of the City," in the 
New York Historical Society Library, volume one of the collection of broadsides. New 

York Mercury, February 5, 1770; Leake, Life of Lamb, p. 54, et sea. 

3 The practice of drawing up instructions to representatives was a natural accom- 
paniment of the coming political self- consciousness of the unfranchised classes. Almost 
inevitably the electors in a republican government look upon their representatives as mere 
agents of their own will ; inevitably they will try to shape and control legislation by forc- 
ing this will upon their representatives. Instructions furnished the first method used by 
the popular element in America for controlling their representatives in this respect. The 
perfected nominating convention, with its platform, represents a later and perhaps a more 
efficient method. The practice of giving instructions was very common during the period 
under consideration. The "great majority of the freeholders of Queens and Suffolk 
counties " were pleased with the action of their representatives relative to the British acts 
of oppression, but directed them further to counteract the ruinous effect of the high fees 
of the supreme court, to continue the £$ act, and if possible raise the limit to ^10. 
New York Mercury, April 17, 1769. Instructions to the same effect were sent in from 
many counties, and the object ihey had in view was ultimately attained. Lbid., June 5> 
1 769. Another question that was agitated at this time was the proposed bill for substi- 



'67 C. Becker 

influence of popular activity in political matters. The most promi- 
nent issue between the assembly and the Sons of Liberty at this 
period was raised by a bill proposing to appropriate money for the 
support of the British troops in the province. The episode presents 
perhaps as good an illustration as can be found of the popular 
political activity of the time, and shows therefore how the Revolu- 
tionary questions were teaching a minority the uses of popular 
organization. Mass meetings, committees, resolutions, instructions, 
were the crude ore out of which the nominating convention finally 
came a perfectly tempered instrument. 

Soon after the bill proposing to aid the soldiers was brought 
forward, in December, 1769, a hand bill appeared, entitled "To the 
Public," and signed " Legion." 1 The sheet referred to the " late 

tuting the ballot for viva voce voting. The Sons of Liberty had long desired such a 
change. They held a meeting at which they instructed the representatives of the city to 
support the measure. New York Mercury, Jan. 8, 1770. On the following day notice 
was given to " all such who are disposed to sign the petition to the Honorable House of 
Representatives praying it to pass a law to elect our representatives by ballot, that there 
will be petitions lodged at the houses of Messrs James M'Cartney in Bayard street, 
Henry Becker in the Broadway, David Philips in Horse and Cart street, and at Jasper 
Drakes between Beekman's and Burling's slip." (Broadside, Jan. 5, 1770, in the New 
York Historical Society Library, Vol. I. of the collection of broadsides. ) But there 
was also strong opposition to the proposed change. On the 4th of January, the following 
notice was circulated on a broadside, entitled "TO THE INDEPENDENT FREE- 
HOLDERS AND FREEMEN OF THIS CITY AND COUNTY. It having been 
industriously propagated that numbers of the voters of this city and county have been long 
intimidated at elections, and are therefore desirous of voting for the future in a secret 
manner by way of the ballot : which report being by many surmised to be void of a proper 
foundation, and only intended to answer the particular private purposes of certain persons : 
it is therefore requested that the independent Freeholders and Freemen . . . will meet 
at the Merchants Coffee House, tomorrow at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, to convey 
their sentiments respecting this matter to their representatives." (Broadside, Jan. 4, 
1770. As above, Vol. I.) On January 5th a number of people assembled at the Coffee 
House, " when a gentleman at request of a number of his friends delivered himself in the 
following words : Gentlemen, I am desired to address you on the present very important 
occasion, and I beg your attention to what I am about to propose, in order to secure to 
us the exercise of one of our most invaluable privileges . . . And then the question was 
put in the following words: Gentlemen, do you approve of the old free constitutional 
mode of voting publicly and openly for the representatives you like ? When a great 
number of the inhabitants signified by loud acclamation their entire approbation of the 
old mode." New York Mercury, Jan. 8, 1770. Instructions were prepared which 
dilated at length upon the danger of radical innovations, and closed with the following 
words: " Therefore we desire you . . . would endeavor to protect us in our . . . con- 
stitutional right of election, for we will not that the old custom of the land should be 
changed." Ibid. These instructions were signed by some 1700 names it is said, and 
were presented to the assemby by a committee which the meeting had appointed. The 
bill had already been defeated, but the representatives assured the committee that they 
would always give careful attention to " constitutional instructions from a majority of 
their constituents." Ibid., Jan. 22, 1770. For instructions from the "inhabitants of 
Westchester county," see New York Mercury, Jan. 15, 1770. 

1 Broadside, no date, in the New York Historical Society Library, volume one of 
the collection. Documentary History of New York, III. 534, ed. 1850-1851. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 68 

base inglorious " action of the assembly in " opposition to the loud 
and general voice of their constituents," and called upon all inhab- 
itants to convene at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 17th of 
December in the Fields, to pronounce upon this violation of the 
well known will of the people. On the 16th a still more radical 
tirade appeared, entitled " To the Betrayed Inhabitants of New 
York," and signed "A Son of Liberty." It also urged a meeting 
for drawing up instructions and appointing a committee. 1 On the 
appointed day some fourteen hundred people assembled in the 
Fields near Mr. Montagnie's coffee house. After waiting till twelve 
o'clock, " they appointed a gentleman (John Lamb) to propound 
the necessary questions. . . . He stated and explained the vote 
passed by the Assembly for granting the money to support the 
troops. After a small pause the question was put : Whether they 
approved of the vote of the . . . Assembly . . . which was car- 
ried in the negative, there being but very few in the affirmative, not 
more in our opinion than five or six. And then the question was 
put : Whether they were for giving any money to the troops under 
any consideration whatever ? which was carried in the negative, 
there being not more in the affirmative than there were on the other 
question." A committee of ten was then appointed, which the 
assembly received " with decency, and in general returned for an- 
swer : That they were of the opinion that a majority of the inhab- 

1 Broadside, as above. Documentary History of New York, III. 5 2 % > Dawson, 
The Park and its Vicinity, p. 25. For the author of these articles rewards were offered 
of ^50 and ;£loo respectively. Documentary History 0/ .Vein York, III. 532, 534; 
Dawson, Tke Park ana its Vicinity, p. 25. From Parker, the editor of the Gazette, it 
was learned that the probable author was Alexander M'Dougall, who was consequently 
imprisoned for nearly three months. Documentary History of New York, III. 536. 
This arrest made McDougall the hero of the hour. He posed as the Wilkes of America, 
and was oppressed with visits of condolence ; so much so that the following manifesto 
was put forth from the New Gaol on the 10th of February, 1770 : " Many of my friends, 
who, having honored me with their visits since my oppressive confinement in this place, 
have advised me, as I intend to devote a good deal of my time to do justice to the public, 
in the cause for which I am imprisoned, to appoint an hour from which it will be most 
convenient for me to see my friends : I do therefore hereby notify them that I shall be 
glad of the honor of their company from three o'clock in the afternoon till six." Dawson, 
The Park and its Vicinity, p 32. From time to time he issued addresses to the free- 
holders from the New Gaol. See Broadsides, December 22, 1770, and January 26, 1771, 
in the New York Historical Society Library, Vol. I. of the collection. For further in- 
formation on this affair, see Thomas, History of Printing, II. 260-262 ; New York Co- 
lonial Documents, VIII. 208; Colden's Letter Book, II. 211. Leake, Life and Times 
of General Lamb, p. 60. The letter entitled "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of New 
York" was answered by "A Citizen," in another broadside dated December 18, 1769. 
Five days later this was in turn answered by "Plebeian," who pointed out that the 
assembly could not plead ignorance of the will of the people. Even before the meeting 
in the Fields they might have had full instructions, for " they must know how ready the 
people are to come together to consult on matters that respect their liberties and property. ' ' 
Broadsides as cited. 



69*" C. Becker 

itants were disposed to give money to support the troops, and that 
it was now too late to pay any regard to the above report of the 
committee." 1 

This may serve to illustrate the attitude and the methods of the 
Sons of Liberty, during the period from the levying of the new 
duties until 1770, when all but the duties on tea were repealed. 
The Stamp Act episode had detached the landed classes generally, 
if one may make a rough generalization, but there was yet no sharp 
separation of the merchants from the mechanics and artisans — the 
" Inhabitants " — who filled up the ranks of the Sons of Liberty. 
Two forces were now operating however to separate the merchants 
from the mechanics and artisans. In the first place, the merchants, 
who were mostly men of property, were becoming conscious, as the 
landed classes had already become, of the consequences of the 
" mobish violence " which was constantly disturbing the peace of the 
city ; and like the landed classes they resented the growing inter- 
ference of an unfranchised class in political matters. More impor- 
tant however was the fact that, as the years passed and the duties 
were unrepealed, the commercial interests of the city began to suffer 
on account of the sweeping character of the non-importation agree- 
ment. The merchants began to consider therefore whether it were 
not possible to dispense with the liberty in return for a little trade — 
whether it were not quite as well to be a " Son of Liberty and Trade," 
as to be a mere " Son of Liberty." Early in 1770 this feeling be- 
came strong enough to reform the non-importation agreement on a 
more conservative basis ; the same movement split the old organiza- 
tion into two — the Sons of Liberty and the Sons of Liberty and Trade. 

The division came when the Rhode Island merchants first broke 
away from the old non-importation agreement. Upon learning of 
this violation, the committee of vigilance called a meeting of the in- 
habitants, by public notice, to meet on the 5th of June. 2 A " con- 
siderable number of inhabitants " assembled on that day ; and to 
them was twice read a series of resolutions, previously prepared by 
the committee, condemning the Rhode Island merchants, declaring 
them enemies of the country, proposing to boycott f hem, and re- 
newing the adherence of the New York merchants to the non-im- 
portation agreement. The assembled inhabitants assented to these 
resolutions, it is said, by a great majority. 3 Meanwhile the con- 

1 New York Mercury, December 25, 1769. 

2 General direction of the affairs of the non- importation league in New York was in 
the hands of a committee of one hundred. A subcommittee of vigilance acted for it in an 
administrative or executive capacity. The call for the meeting was posted May 30th. 
Ne-M York Mercury, June II, 1770 ; Leake, Life and Times of General Lamb, p. 67. 

3 For these resolutions see ibid. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 70 

servative had been carrying through a plan of their own. A num- 
ber of merchants had already asked the general committee of one 
hundred to " take the sense " of the city, "by subscription," whether 
" an alteration should not be made in our non-importation agree- 
ment." A meeting was held and persons were appointed to go 
through the wards proposing to each of the inhabitants the follow- 
ing question : " Do you approve of a general importation of goods 
from Great Britain except teas and other articles which are or may 
be subject to an importation duty ? Or do you approve of our 
non-importation agreement continuing in the manner it now is?" 1 
A majority was found to be in favor of importation according to the 
proposed change. 2 Somewhat to the surprise, and much to the cha- 
grin, of the committee of vigilance, which seems to have been com- 
posed of the radical element, both the meeting and the resolutions of 
the 5th of June were therefore disavowed by the general committee of 
one hundred, a majority of which were in sympathy with the views 
of the conservatives. From this time the division was complete. 3 

1 New York Mercury, June 18, 1770; Leake, Life and Times of General Lamb, 
p. 67. 

2 Ibid. According to Colden 1,180 persons, among them the principal inhabitants; 
declared for importation, "about 300 were neutral or unwilling to declare their senti- 
ments and few of any distinction declared in oppostion to it." Letter Book, II. 223. 

3 The separation had of course been long in coming. The actual struggle over non- 
importation was introduced by a curious and amusing prologue earlier in the year. It 
had been customary for the Sons of Liberty and others to celebrate, annually on the 18th 
of March, the repeal of the Stamp Act. At first this celebration was held at Bardin's 
Tavem. New York Mercury, March 9, 1767. As early as 1769 the friends of the repeal 
had divided into two factions, one holding its celebration at Bardin's as usual, the other 
at Van DeWater's. The former party Holt, editor of the Journal, characterized as " the 
genuine Sons of Liberty," composed mostly of merchants ; the latter were "probably 
mechanics." Memorial History of New York, II. 397. At the next celebration the di- 
vision was complete. The radical faction posted a notice calling a meeting of the Sons 
of Liberty at Montagnie's (Bardin's establishment had meanwhile been taken by Mon- 
tagnie) as usual. Whereupon Mr. Montagnie published the following notice in the Journal: 
" To The Public : An advertisement having appeared in last Monday's papers inviting the 
Sons of Liberty to dine at my house on Monday, the 19th of March next ... not having 
proceeded from any of the gentlemen who engaged my house for that day, I think myself 
obliged to give this notice that several gentlemen, as a committee from a great number of 
other gentlemen, having engaged my house some time ago for the 19th of March next, I 
shall not be able to entertain any other company." New York Journal, Feb. 8, 1770; 
Dawson, The Park, etc. , p. 42. A few days later the following appeared from the com- 
mittee mentioned by Montagnie : " The friends of Liberty and Trade, who formerly asso- 
ciated together at Bardin's ... to celebrate the . . . repeal of the stamp act, are requested 
to meet for that purpose on Monday, the 19th of March next, at the house of Mr. Abra- 
ham De La Montagnie." Dawson, The Park, etc., p. 43. Finally, on the 15th, the 
other faction announced : " To all the Sons of Liberty," that whereas the house of Mr. 
Montagnie could not be secured, " a number of Sons of Liberty " had secured " the cor- 
ner house in the Broadway, near Liberty Pole, lately kept by Mr. Edward Smith." Ibid. 
This house was purchased for the permanent use of the Sons of Liberty. It stood at the 
corner of Broadway and " the Bourie Road," and was christened Hampden Hall. Leake ; 



7i C. Becker 

The general merchant body was now detached from the Sons of 
Liberty proper ; henceforth it favored non-importation only as re- 
spects articles actually taxed ; and its influence was exerted in sup- 
port of conservative measures and in opposition to mob violence and 
all hasty and ill-considered action. For a time therefore the Sons 
of Liberty remained under a cloud, especially during the years of 
1771 and 1772, which, partly because of the repeal of all duties 
except those on tea, were a period of quiet and unsuited to the tur- 
bulent activity which had brought them into prominence in previous 
years. 1 But their opportunity came again within the next two years 
when the East India Company attempted to force the importation of 
tea into the colonies. The Sons of Liberty renewed not only their 
spirit but also their organization ; and from this time dates the 
struggle between the radicals and the conservatives to direct the 
Revolutionary policy of New York by controlling this organization. 
It is necessary to notice therefore : (1) What was the new attitude 
of the British government which presented the question directly at 
issue ; (2) the renewed organization of the Sons of Liberty which 
claimed to represent the city; (3) the result of the tea episode 
upon the attitude of the conservatives. 

The Stamp Act had been repealed in the spring of 1766. On 
the 20th of November, 1767, an import tax had been laid upon tea, 
glass, painter's colors, and paper. All of these duties were in turn 
repealed in 1770, with the exception of those on tea, which were 
retained as a test " of the parliamentary right to tax." But it was 
difficult to make any test so long as the American merchants re- 
fused to import any of the tea. Meanwhile the affairs of the East 
India Company were in a deplorable state, the result, it was thought, 
of the loss of the American market which had been regularly sup- 
plied by illegal traffic with Holland. Partly to test the right of 
taxation, partly to relieve the East India Company, a scheme was 
proposed by which the Americans could get their tea from England 
with the duty, cheaper than from Holland without it. This was 
effected by giving the company a drawback, on the tea exported to 
America, of all duties paid on such tea when entering England from 
the east. With this advantage the company was enabled to offer 
tea to America ~at a price which, even with the slight duty, was less 

Life and Times of General Lamb, p. 62. From this time on the parties celebrated sep- 
arately. See New York Mercury, March 4, 1771 ; Memorial History of New York, 
II. 419. 

1 " It gives me particular satisfaction to find this party [non-importation] entirely 
defeated last week in a violent struggle to turn out such of the elective magistrates of the 
city as had distinguished themselves in any way in favor of government." Colden to 
Hillsborough, October 15, 1770. Letter Book, II. 229. See Ibid. 222, 223. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 72 

than the price which must be paid for it in Holland. But the com- 
pany was given to understand that the Americans would not be in- 
fluenced by any mere appeal to their pecuniary interests, and that 
an attempt to land any dutied tea in America would be attended 
with disastrous results. The directors were nevertheless assured by 
Lord North that the King would have it so ; he was determined to 
"try the question with America." Four ships were consequently 
sent to the four ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and 
Charleston, in the fall of 1773, and agents appointed by letter to 
receive the cargos in each port. 1 The expected arrival of Captain 
Lockyear at the port of New York furnished the occasion for a re- 
organization of the Sons of Liberty. 

On Thursday, the 16th of December, 1773, some of the Sons 
of Liberty, who still acted as a committee of the society, though 
the organization had fallen away somewhat during the quiet years 
since 1770, issued a broadside calling a meeting for the following 
day at the city hall. Besides the members, " every other friend to 
the liberties and trade of America," was invited to be present. 2 In 
spite of bad weather, "a very numerous and respectable number of 
citizens met at the City Hall " on the following day. Mr. John 
Lamb, of the committee, addressed the meeting on the questions at 
issue, and read several letters which had been received from the 
Boston and Philadelphia committees of correspondence relative to the 
" importation of the East India's tea." A committee of fifteen was 
then chosen to answer these letters and " to correspond with the 
sister colonies on the subject of the dutied tea." A series of reso- 
lutions, bearing the date November 29th, 3 entitled "The Associa- 
tion of the Sons of Liberty of New York," was then read. The 
preamble of these resolutions related briefly the history of the im- 
port duty on tea, the failure to secure American importers, and the 

■Broadsides dated November 29, and December 17, 1773, in the New York His- 
torical Society Library, Vol. I. of the collection. Rivington's Gazetteer, November 18, 
and December 2, 1773 ; Fiske, American Revolution, I. 82, 83. 

2 " The members of the association of the Sons of Liberty are requested to meet at 
the City Hall at one o'clock tomorrow (being Friday) on business of the utmost impor- 
tance, and every other friend to the liberties and trade of America are hereby most cor- 
dially invited to meet at the same time and place. 

The Committee of the Association. 
Thursday, 16th December, 1773." 

Broadside, December 16, 1773, in the New York Historical Society Library, Vol. 
I. of the collection. 

3 These resolutions bearing date of November 29th were drawn up and adopted at a 
meeting of that date. Broadside, November 29, 1773, as above cited. The later meet- 
ing of the 17th of December was probably held for the purpose of securing a more gen- 
eral support of the resolutions. At any rate the latter meeting may be said to mark the 
complete reorganization of the Sons of Liberty. 



73 C. Becker 

recent acts of Parliament favorable to the East India Company, 
finally closing with the assurance that the tea ships might be daily 
expected. " Therefore," the document continues, " to prevent 
slavery ... we the subscribers, being influenced from a regard 
to liberty and disposed to . . . transmit to our posterity those 
blessings of freedom which our ancestors have handed down to us, 
and to contribute to the support of the common liberties of America 
which are in danger to be subverted : Do, for those important pur- 
poses, agree to associate together under the name and stile of 
the sons of liberty of new York, and engage our honor to 
and with each other faithfully to observe and perform the follow- 
ing resolutions." The five resolutions which follow the preamble 
recite that the subscribers bind themselves to consider as an enemy 
of the liberties of America any and every person who aids or abets 
the introduction or the landing of the dutied tea, or buys or sells 
it, or aids or abets the purchase or sale of it ; whether the duty was 
paid in England or America was immaterial ; as for him who trans- 
gressed these rules " we will not deal with or employ or have any 
connection with him." The resolutions having been read, " Mr. 
Lamb then putting the question whether they agreed to these reso- 
lutions? it passed in the affirmative nem. con." At this point the 
mayor and recorder came in with a message from the governor. 
Permission having been received to deliver it, the mayor stated that 
the governor wished to make the following proposal to the people, 
viz : that the tea should upon arrival be put into the fort at noon 
day, that it should remain there until the council or the King or the 
proprietors should order it delivered, that it should then be deliv- 
ered at noonday. "Gentlemen," said the mayor, "is this satisfac- 
tory to you?" For all answer he got only "no" repeated three 
times. Mr. Lamb in his turn, having made some pertinent remarks, 
put the following question : " Is it then your opinion gentlemen that 
the tea should be landed under these circumstances?" So general 
was the negative reply that there was no call for a division. The 
meeting then adjourned till the arrival of the tea ships. The asso- 
ciation, together with an account of the meeting, was ordered printed 
and transmitted to the committees of the other colonies. 1 

Such were the Sons of Liberty newly organized. They claimed 
to represent the" city, and through their committee to express its 
will. When the tea ships arrived on the iSth of April, 1774, the 

1 An account of the proceedings of the meeting, including the advertisement by which 
it was called and the resolutions of association in full, was published by John Holt. This 
document is in the New York Historical Society Library. Vol. I. of the collection of 
broadsides. See also, Leake, Life and Times of General Lamb, pp. 79, 80. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 74 

city was informed by the committee's hand bills, and from day to 
day other announcements of a similar character furnished informa- 
tion as to what had been and what would be done. 1 It is likely 
that the claim of representing the city was not altogether unjustified 
in this particular case, for the attempt to force importation upon the 
colony was certainly not popular with any class. The merchants 
themselves, as we have seen, had never given up the principle that 
dutied goods should not be imported, and they were quite willing 
to resist any effort to force such articles into the province. Even 
the extreme conservatives were willing to record their protest, and 
the assembly took action for the last time by appointing a committee 
of its own, "to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of all 
such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament ... as do or 
may relate or affect the liberties and privileges of his Majesty's sub- 
jects in America, and to keep up ... a correspondence . . . with 
our sister colonies." 2 Thus all parties were practically at one 
in respect to the importation of the dutied tea ; the conservatives, 
in so far as they refused to act with the Sons of Liberty, were actu- 
ated rather by jealousy of the growing political influence of the 
unfranchised classes, and by fear of their undisciplined methods of 
resistance, than by difference of opinion as to the nature of the 
British policy itself. 3 And this fear was not altogether unfounded 
as the sequel proved. The radical methods which the Sons of 

1 "TO THE PUBLIC :_ The long expected tea ships arrived last night at Sandy 
Hook, but the pilot would not bring up the Captain until the sense of the city was known 
The committee were immediately informed that the Captain solicits for liberty to come up 
to provide necessaries for his return, the ship to remain at Sandy Hook. The committee 
conceiving that he should have such liberty signified it to the gentleman who is to supply 
him and others with necessaries. Advise of this was immediately dispatched to the Cap- 
tain, and whenever he comes up care will be taken that he does not enter the customs 
house and that no time be lost in dispatching him. New York, April 19, 1774." Broad- 
side, as above cited. « TO THE PUBLIC : The sense of the city relative to the land- 
ing of the East India Company's tea being signified to Captain Lockyear by the commit- 
tee, nevertheless it is the desire of a number of the citizens that, at his departure from 
hense, he should see, with his own eyes, their detestation of the measures persued by the 
ministry- to enslave the country. This wiH be declared by the convention of the people 
at his departure . . . which will be on next Saturday morning about 9 o'clock, where no 
doubt every friend of this country will attend. The bills will give the notice about an 
hour before he embarks from Murry's wharf. By Order of the Committee " ( Dated 
April 21, 1774.) Broadside, as above cited. 

* Assembly Journal, January 20, 1774; Rivu&on's Gazetteer, January 27 1774 
The committee consisted of John Cruger, James DeLancey, Jacob Walton, Benjamin 
Seaman Isaac Wilkins, Frederick Philipse, Daniel Kissam, Zebulon Seaman, John 
Rapaja, Simon Boerum, John DeNoyelles, and George Clinton, « or any seven of them." 
See also Dawson, History of Westchester County During the American Revolution, p 23 
A few voices were raised favoring the importation of the company's tea, on the 
ground of commercial necessity. See a series of articles by Popliocola in the Broadsides, 
as above cited. See also Ri-jington' s Gazetteer, November 18, and December ■> 1773 



75 C. Becker 

Liberty were likely to favor, had already been foreshadowed in the 
attitude of the meeting of the seventeenth of December, with refer- 
ence to the proposals of the governor. The action of the citizens 
of Boston in throwing the tea into the harbor had meanwhile fired 
the zeal of the New York radicals, and the " Mohawks," a kind of 
rough riding detachment of the regular army of the Sons of Lib- 
erty, were prepared for similar measures if occasion offered. Even- 
tually, in spite of the somewhat conservative attitude of the new 
committee, a part of Captain Lockyear's cargo was dumped into 
the harbor, while the band, a little incongruously perhaps, played 
" God Save the King." 1 

Once more therefore the Sons of Liberty, the representatives of 
the unfranchised classes, had scored a victory over the propertied 
enfranchised classes. The event served to separate the factions the 
more sharply and to introduce the coming struggle for control, be- 
cause the difference was seen to be largely a question of methods of 
resistance rather than a question of resistance itself. As this fact 
became more and more obvious, the extreme conservatives were 
dropping out of the contest entirely, eventually to swell the num- 
bers of the -Tory party. Within a few months the passage of the 
coercion acts precipitated the permanent Revolutionary contest, and 
the question became, at least within the city, less and less one of 
resistance or non-resistance and almost entirely one of the methods 
and character of the resistance. Was the policy of New York in 
this struggle to be dominated and guided by the radical unfranchised 
classes, whose methods were characterized by rashness and mob 
violence, or was it to be under the direction of moderate men oi 
property, who were accustomed to exercise political privileges, 
whose methods were those of reason and good sense, and who 
would firmly assert the rights of the colony without over-stepping 
the bounds which separated law from lawlessness ? The conserva- 
tives now saw clearly that a policy of mere negation, a policy of 
holding aloof, would not in any sense suffice ; action of a positive 
character was necessary. Yet they shrewdly refrained from oppos- 
ing the organization, now in the hands of the Sons of Liberty, 
which claimed to represent the city. They were conscious that this 
organization, whether legal or extra-legal, was grounded in a wide 
popular support, that it was the essential political institution of the 
hour, and that through it or not at all they must give practical ef- 
fect to their ideas. Their energies were now directed therefore to 
obtaining control of this organization, through which they hoped to 

1 Leake, Life and Times of General Lamb, pp. 76, 77, 82, 83. 



Revolutionary Parties in New York 76 

guide and direct the popular will. They captured the organization 
at the election of the new committee of fifty-one. A protracted 
struggle then followed over the election of delegates to the first Con- 
tinental Congress ; incidentally the first attempt was made by the 
city committee to organize the rural districts for the Revolutionary 
contest. 

Carl Becker. 



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